Solids That Shine
by NaelaNightshade
Summary: During a time of peace, students were still learning to maintain said peace. This is a story of students who did just that, before when they were needed in a time of chaos. (Yo. Um... so this is a prequel of The Forgotten. They're both in progress as of now. But they are connected)
1. First Steps

It was a sunny morning, the sun greeted the grass, encouraging it to grow so green and vibrant. Birds were heard chirping in the distance, away from the large school campus that stood on the top of the hill. The school that overlook the city of Vale, the same school that taught the future Huntsmen and Huntresses of Remnant. Beacon Academy, the prestigious school that would teach the Huntsmen-in-training to fight against the plague of Remnant. Their duty is to bring and keep the peace within the world.

"Now all of you know that Ursa Majors are larger than regular Ursai. That is because..." A teacher was giving his lecture about various Grimm that plagued this world. Beside him was a teacher's assistant, who seemed eager to learn. And like him, many of the other students were eager to learn more about the Grimm they were training to fight. All but one. This one was sleeping and softly snoring near the end of the room, his head faced down with his book propped up to keep the teacher from seeing his sleeping state.

Beside him was a woman who felt very disgusted about his behavior in the middle of class. She wanted to say something to the teacher, or kick the boy in the shins. She didn't care as long as it was something that he could feel humiliated. She was his sister, after all.

In the most subtle way possible, she gently tipped the textbook of her brother's to drop on the back of his head.

"Ow! The hell?" He quickly sat up to rub the back of his dark hair, where the book fell on. His shout was large enough for the teacher to hear him, and that was what the woman was counting on.

"Mr. Branwen! Please tell the class the most vulnerable place of the Boarbatusk." The teacher had his arms crossed as he eyed his troublemaking student.

Qrow Branwen, one of the most laid back person in his team or even his year, couldn't answer after waking up. His brain wasn't 100 percent cooperating, even if he already knew that answer. "Uh…. the most… vulnerable…. place…." He wanted to say "it's virginity" more than anything, after the dream he had.

His Grimm Studies teacher, Arvin Palm, sighed in disgust, "From now on, Mr. Branwen, please come to class with a full night's rest".

"Aww, don't worry about it, Mr. Palm," Ryan Vail, one of the smart students in their class and well known for their quick wit, assured her teacher, "you know what they say, idiots don't know the difference between day and night!"

Nearly everyone in the class erupted in laughter at the dark-haired teenager, all but his own teammates and one other team. They sat all together in the middle of the class, their eyes staring ahead rather than behind, like the other students. This team recently transferred from Atlas Academy to Beacon. No one knows why, all that they knew is that they did.

The bell to end the class rang, Mr. Palm growling in frustration to himself. "Well class, don't forget to read chapters 3 and 4 for homework with a reflection paper! And Mr. Branwen, enough with the sleeping in my class."

The students gathered their things and left the room, the first ones to leave were the new transferred team. Their walking patterns were synchronized with one another, as if they were a single being. The only people who hung back in the classroom were Team STRQ as in stark white, their leader representing the purest of colors. Qrow growled at his twin sister, Raven as she grinned at him, "Raven! You got me in trouble with Mr. Palm!" His eyebrows furrowed, Raven rolled her eyes, "Please, you got yourself in trouble. Qrow, you've been sleeping in class for a long time. You were bound to being found out."

"Bullshit! I had a foolproof plan!"

"Yeah, and you're the fool"

"Fuck you, Raven!"

"No, fuck you, you idiot twin of mine!"

"Guys!" The leader of Team STRQ, Summer Rose, shouted at her teammates. Her white hood was removed from her head, her silver eyes piercing each of their red eyes of irritation towards the other. Beside her was their other teammate, Taiyang Xiao Long, with a single hand on his hip and a disgusted look at Qrow.

"We're teammates. We shouldn't be arguing with each other!" She tried to remind them each time the twins had a scuffle with each other. Or even when Qrow had an issue with Taiyang and vise versa. In short, Qrow had issues with other people.

"Sorry," the twins said in unison, looking away from each other.

"But why are you always sleeping in Mr. Palm's class?" Summer asked, just as they finally left the classroom, walking towards their dorm room.

Qrow rolled his eyes, "That class is super boring, like we don't know what Grimm are and whatever…"

"But you didn't answer his question…" Taiyang teased.

"I was still sleepy!" Qrow tried to defend himself.

"Uh huh, right."

Qrow growled at the yellow-haired annoyance, while Summer thought out loud, "I didn't find Ryan's joke very funny. I'm sad that the rest of the class found something so mean, funny…"

Raven tried to console her leader, "well, at least Team SLVR didn't find it funny, either." Summer nodded, feeling a little bit better than before.

Taiyang added to Raven's statement, "Team SLVR likes to keep to themselves. They're always so serious. It's been a week since they transferred and they haven't tried to integrate themselves with the other students…"

The mysterious Team SLVR, led by a white-haired silent wonder, kept to themselves. No one even knew their names yet. Nor did the teachers want to call them out during class, they wanted the team to be comfortable themselves before doing any sort of thing. They would just sit in class, waiting idly by and paying close attention to the lectures.

"Then they're just shy! We should give them a little push! Try to be more friendly to them!' Summer whole heartedly suggested. Raven and Taiyang glanced at each other the look of doubt. Qrow told Summer what the two were thinking, "Summer, that just may piss them off rather than help them get used to the school and its students."

"How so?" She pouted at her teammate, her cheeks puffed up.

"Well…." Qrow tried to find the right words, "sometimes… people find that sort of push… annoying?"

Raven interjected before Qrow made it worse on himself, "He means that they just need to go on their own pace. They never even spoke in class before. Not one team member."

The conversation about Team SLVR died down once they neared their dorm room. But each member of Team STRQ slowed down once they saw each member of Team SLVR enter the room across from their very own. A blue-haired, caramel-skinned girl entered the room with a brown-haired, fair-skinned boy. A dark skinned, black-haired girl followed the two behind. The white-haired leader noticed them, turning to them, making eye contact with each of them for several seconds before entering the room last. The door was gently closed shut.

Once each member of Team STRQ entered their room, the topic of the group across the hall erupted once more.

"THEY LIVE ACROSS FROM US?!" Taiyang exclaimed before falling onto his bed.

"I guess they do," Raven confirmed, "I'm slightly surprised that we never noticed."

"They must leave their room before we do," Taiyang sat up on his bed when Raven sat on it. "I mean we do leave late because of a certain someone…" He eyed Qrow menacingly. Qrow stuck up his middle finger as a response.

"All the more reason to be friends with them!" Summer continued to push her friendship agenda onto the group. She was not going to give this up, not one bit.

"Then, oh great leader of ours," Qrow mocked her, "why don't you go over and ask them out for dinner?" When he noticed the look of hesitation and fear in his leader's eyes, he continued, "Oh? You can't? Because you know they're unapproachable. They're really off-putting."

Raven smacked the back of her twin's head, "Qrow that's enough" She smiled at Summer, "you don't have to listen to him, he's a moron."

"No!" Summer pouted again, her stubbornness showing, "He's right! I should lead by example. So I shall… ask them… out… to eat.. With us…" The idea of asking them frightened her, but she knew that it would be important as a leader. "Here I go!"

The white-hooded girl opened the door to her dorm with grace and took several steps to be in front of the door of Those-Who-Shall-Be-Approached. She stared at this door for what seemed to be 10 minutes. While in reality only 10 seconds had passed. Summer turned to plead to her overlooking teammates.

 _I can do this, I can do this_. She pumped herself up.

 _Knock knock_

The door opened after several seconds of Summer's knock. The one who opened it was the leader of the group. Far away, Summer could tell that she had white, long hair. But up close, Summer noticed the woman had almond-shaped, bright purple eyes, that reminded her of an amethyst jewel. Her hair was long, but it was long and thick, her bangs reaching down to her waist. Nor did Summer ever notice the black bow she wore on the top of her head. In short, Summer didn't realize how gorgeous the leader was, who stood about as tall as Raven, which was shorter than Summer.

"Uh, hi! I'm Summer Rose and we're neighbors!" She laughed nervously, while pointing across the hall towards her teammates who waved. "We were wondering… if you and your team would like to join us for dinner! It would be a great exp-"

"No thank you." The white-haired girl was about to close the door before Qrow put his foot between the door and the doorframe.

"Hey, she was trying to be nice," Qrow narrowed his eyes at the unknown woman, "Maybe you should take up her offer."

The leader of SLVR kept a straight face at the black-haired annoyance before kicking his foot away, "I apologize for my rudeness, but we ate shortly before coming back to the dormitory. Perhaps, _Mr. Branwen_ , you should be more considerate of other people." She closed the door right after.

"Pppf.." Taiyang held in his laughter, Raven herself seemed amused with the verbal beating the white-haired woman gave him.

Summer turned to Qrow, giving him a saddened smile, "Thank you for trying, Qrow…" Summer felt defeated, but in her heart she knew she would persevere.


	2. Two Slips

It was a new day with a whole new day's worth of lectures in class. The history professor, Laura Mayfield, stood in front of her class. She was always the pinnacle of the male student's wet dreams, to not fault of her own. She always wore pantyhose with a pencil skirt and a short-sleeved blouse. She was fairly new to the teaching world and enjoyed doing so. The students could tell how much she enjoyed history by how excited she got.

"Miss Goodwitch!" She singled out a second-year, who wore her blonde, curly hair down and was always fiddling with her glasses, "tell me, what is the more correct name of the Faunus War?"

The intelligent student answered without hesitation, "the Faunus Rights Revolution."

"Correct! It may have ended a long time ago, but even to this day...People with Faunus heritage are being discriminated against. It's mainly due to one's environment, so students! When you have children, teach them right from wrong!" She smiled brightly before moving on with her lecture.

Qrow sat near his teammates in the middle of the room, replaying the conversation from the night before with the black-bowed-bitch in his mind. Each time he thought about it, he was growing angrier and angrier. So much that he swore under his breath, "that bitch".

"What was that, Mr. Branwen?" Miss Mayfield still smiled brightly. He didn't expect anyone to hear that, let alone the teacher.

"Uh, I said.. Dang woman. You really get excited about history, huh?" He lied his ass off, but was able to fool the History fanatic.

"Yes! It has always been my favorite subject! Even when I was still a student, like yourself! So Mr. Branwen, please tell me! What was the war that preceded the Faunus War?"

"The Great War," he answered simply. It was a war everyone and their mother knew. It was a war that raged 60 years ago between the Kingdoms of Vale and Vacuo on one side and the Kingdoms of Mistral and Mantle on the other.

"Very correct! But that was easy. How long did the war last?"

Qrow sat for a second, thinking to himself, "... 9 years?"

Miss Mayfield made an X sign with her arms and a buzzing sound with her mouth, "eeer wrong! Maybe the other twin can tell us!" She gestured to Raven who sat to Qrow's left.

"10 years," Raven answered.

"Ding ding ding! Corrrrect! You almost had it Mr. Branwen!" She giggled before continuing on with her lecture about the Faunus War.

Ryan Vail sat in the front of the class, her legs crossed with a large grin as she raised her hand. Miss Mayfield called out to her, "oh? What is it, Miss Vail?"

Ryan tilted her head to the side, "What makes Humans and Faunus so different?" The question felt so stupid that Qrow and Raven looked at each other dumbfounded. Then Ryan elaborated her question, "I mean, why were we created so differently?"

Miss Mayfield crossed her arms in a somber manner, finding it difficult to answer such a hard question, "no one knows, scientists are still trying to figure this out. And because of us not really knowing anything, it brought upon us the discrimination of people who don't fully understand themselves…"

"Then.." Ryan continued, "is it even appropriate to call them, 'people'?" Half of the class gasped at such a discriminatory question, several of the Faunus students in the classroom glared at her, and others expected it out of her. As if she asked this question more times than they could count.

"If they look like us, talk like us, then they are us." A deep voice came from beside the white-haired leader of Team SLVR. It was the only male of the group, his light green eyes narrowing at Ryan. "It would only make sense then, right?"

More people were surprised at him talking than they were of Ryan's question. Several groups of students whispered among themselves, even Team STRQ. All about how he talked. Not what he said, but just that he did.

Miss Mayfield tried to gather the class back onto the topic of history, "Well, that is a good way to put it, Mr…?" She egged him on to tell her his name. The male looked over to his leader, waiting for a response from her. She gently nodded before he sighed and said, "Janus."

"Okay! Mr. Janus! So, could you tell me what many theorize to be the turning point of the Faunus War?"

"The Battle at Fort Castle."

"Yes yes yes!" Miss Mayfield was glad to have gotten the topic back onto her favorite subject, "that is correct!" No one fought the teacher about wanting to talk about the discovery of his voice and his surname. The males sure didn't want to, they wanted to keep her happy.

"Now, who can tell me the advantage that the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?" She waited for someone to raise their hand. But only Ryan's voice was heard in the silent room, "pitiful stories".

Mayfield rolled her eyes, "Miss Vail…" She shook her head as her excitement flew away.

A grunt was heard before someone answered, "Night vision".

"What was that?" Miss Mayfield looked over the the white-haired leader of SLVR before asking, "What was your answer?"

"Night vision. The ability to see clearly in the dark. The General was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His army was outmatched and he was captured. In order to defeat thy enemy, you must know thy enemy."

"Yay!" Miss Mayfield jumped in joy, the boys in the class smiling so brightly for her, "how right you are, Miss….?" She was doing the same thing as she did to Mr. Janus, who chuckled under his breath. His leader punched him in the leg before answering, "Soteria".

The bell rung, and the History fanatic's face fell into a pout. "I suppose that means class is over. But please don't forget to do your homework! It's due by our next class!" Miss Mayfield joyfully grabbed her things and skipped out of her classroom. A full 180 of her emotions.

For the first time ever, in the week they have been attending Beacon, Team SLVR had hung back in the classroom. Each student that was leaving the room whispered amongst each other as they eyed the team. Trying to make full sense of what just happened in class. All students but four. The usual team that hung back, never really in a hurry. But Team SLVR didn't know that. They couldn't even see Team STRQ behind them.

Miss Soteria hung her head, "I shouldn't have answered", she concluded, feeling so defeated.

Mr. Janus scratched the back of his head, "Yeah… well.. It was my fault first. Sorry, Sil."

'Sil' shrugged it off, "It's not your fault. Anyway, we should probably start heading over to our Training class." Each member gathered their things before leaving the room. Leaving the leftover team surprised.

"Sil… that's her first name." Raven deduced. "It may be short of something, but it's something."

"Who the fuck cares," Qrow sat up from his seat, he didn't really care about knowing the woman who torched his ass last night. And he still wasn't happy about it.

Summer pouted at Qrow, "We should to at least understand them! And besides, they may be up next for Training class today!"  
Taiyang nodded, "You may be right about that! But today is team fights, we won't be able to do one-on-ones."

Qrow entertained the idea of fighting SLVR's leader, "too bad, or I would have beaten her to the ground!"

Raven rolled her eyes and noticed something important, "Speaking of Training class…."

The other three looked at each other questioningly…. Before taking off in a sprint to their next class, hoping they would make it on time.

Hint, they didn't.


	3. The Beginning of Everything

"Want to explain to the class why you're late?" Li Laozi, the Training instructor and one of the most strictest teachers in all of Beacon Academy, shouted at the late Team STRQ. Li was built more muscular than most of the other teachers, his weapon primarily being a mace. Thus, he was able to intimidate any student regardless of their size.

Summer was more easily intimidated than the rest of her team, "Well… uh, you see… umm.." She searched for an answer, a viable answer in her head, but her stuttering only made things worse for them.

Qrow cut her off, "It was my fault. They were lecturing me about paying attention in class. So….the usual."

"And that took a lot of time?" Li lift a single eyebrow, not fully believing his story.

But Qrow was quick witted enough to change his mind, "This is me we're talking about. You're lucky we're only two minutes late!" His response brought about a gentle bout of laughter amongst the students, who were already well acquainted with Qrow's antics after a half a semester.

Li sighed, "well, since you four decided to come to class late, why don't you start us off with team match training?" He gestured to the arena where each match would occur during this class time.

Qrow grinned at his instructor, "Gladly." Before he could walk to the center of the arena, he was hit by his own twin. "Ow! Dammit Raven!"

Raven narrowed her eyes at him, "don't forget that Summer is the team leader. Not you." The two glared at one another, like any pair of siblings would. Sparks practically flying around the room.

Summer set a gentle hand on each of the twin's arms, "It's fine, Raven. You too, Qrow. You got excited. Besides, we haven't done team matches yet! It'll be great learning experience." Summer looked over her shoulder to Taiyang, who was several steps away from the twins not out of annoyance, but of fear, "Right, Tai?"

Taiyang smiled back at her, more relaxed than before and nodded, "Summer is right. So, behave you too. And act like a team, for once.." He passed by Qrow and towards the middle of the arena, Summer following right behind him. Raven sighed and joined the two, while Qrow swore underneath his breath. Thankfully, no one heard him this time.

"Now, choose your opponent. I would prefer it to be a full team." Li stated to Team STRQ.

The ultimate decision would be decided by the team leader, which in this case was Summer Rose. She eyed each leader of the teams that attended today's class, unsure as to who would be the perfect opponent for them. The lightbulb in Qrow's head lit up brightly. He bent down to whisper into Summer's ear, "Team SLVR is here, this would be the best chance to 'become friends' with them."

Taiyang overheard Qrow suggestion and whispered back to him, "Are you stupid? No one knows what style they fight in! We would be at a disadvantage."

Raven chimed in, "but if we do it now, in class, we won't have to worry about it in the Vytal Festival Tournament." Taiyang could not dissolve the logic that she brought to the table.

The Vytal Festival is an international festival in Remnant that is held every two years and hosted by each Kingdom, in rotation. This year was to be the next Vytal Festival, hosted by the Kingdom of Vale, where Beacon Academy is located in. At the end of the Festival is a combat tournament and usually students of each Academy enter it.

Summer nodded along and felt that her teammates were right. In the most excitable voice she could muster, she pointed at a white-haired student and exclaimed, "We, Team STRQ, wish to battle Team SLVR!"

Almost all jaws in the room dropped, even Li Laozi and some of the members of Team SLVR itself. Miss Soteria's teammates glanced over to her, waiting for her response. Her straight face never faltered, not even for a second.

"Fine," She finally spoke, "We accept your challenge."


	4. Roasted Cauliflower

Team STRQ stood on one side of the arena, their weapons in hand with Team SLVR on the other side. What felt odd to the members of Team STRQ was their lack of weapons; none of the members of SLVR had their weapons out. So they felt more on edge than before.

Li stood in the audience area with his other students, "Let the match... " Each team tensed up a little more, "Begin!"

Members of team STRQ came at SLVR in full force. Qrow had his eyes set on bringing their leader to the ground, just as he said previously. He wanted this fantasy to become a reality. Qrow, with his weapon in it's greatsword mode, swung at Miss Soteria with full force. He felt that he got her, only to be dissatisfied with the nimble leader's ability to jump on top of his sword with grace. Her weapon still not drawn out.

She stood there, looking down at him, her other teammates still haven't moved, no other member of STRQ came at their opponents. Qrow grinned up at her, overly annoyed with her high-and-mighty attitude, "Don't easily look down at your opponents, _Sil_."

Her eyes widened as she remembered what her male teammate told her in their previous classroom. Her eyes narrowed down at him before she opened her mouth, and sang, " _Black the beast descends from shadows. Yellow…."_ She kicked down at him before back flipping away from him and back besides her teammates.

" _Beauty.. Burns…"_ With the flick of her wrist, the remaining members of Team SLVR launched at Qrow and his band of misfits.

" _Gold~"_

In a split second, the weapons of Team SLVR were revealed! The dark-skinned member held a rifle sized sheath that held in a khopesh sword. She swung it at Qrow to move away from their leader, while the male of the group brought out a shield to the party. Within his shield was a folded sword that flung out the second he pulled it out.

"Penis jokes! No fair!" Taiyang joked as he swung a punch at the shield-wielder, Mr. Janus grinned and replied with, "It's hard to know that mine is bigger than yours."

Amused, Taiyang threw another punch at him, only to be stopped by the blue-haired, caramel-skinned girl. The javelin-shaped weapon she held in her hand emitted ice dust to deflect Tai's attack.

Raven swung her sword at the javelin girl, the girl blocking it with her javelin. The dark-skinned woman took her sheath, revealing it to be a carbine gun and aimed the barrel at Raven. When the trigger was pulled, Summer came in and deflected the attack with her weapon as well.

The fight continued onward with only the leader of Team SLVR standing to the side, watching them all silently. No one in the arena noticed her, and the audience didn't dare say anything. They wanted to see how it would all go with a 3v4 fight. Sil's arms were crossed, her weight mainly on her left leg.

Once Qrow noticed that only Sil was missing in the fight, he came at her while the others faced the other three. The only person Qrow wanted to truly take down was her. She insulted him and roasted him more times than he he would really want. Especially since they were practically strangers to one another.

He would keep swinging at her and she would keep on dodging, her body moving as if she was on the dance floor. Completely fed up with her crap, Qrow transformed his greatsword into a full scythe. This gained Soteria's interest as she stood idly by, waiting to see what and how he'd use that weapon of his.

His swings became less predictable, more erratic than before. But she still dodged all attacks as if they were dancing a dance they both knew for so long. At some points she would go on the offensive, then straight back to the defensive side. Without her weapon, she could not truly be on the offensive. This she knew, but her true intentions were not to fight, but to analyze.

Qrow swung again at her, and in one quick motion did she kick Qrow away from his own weapon and took it away from him. She planned on using his own weapon against him, and she took great delight in this. She flipped around Qrow more so than he anticipated, the weight of the scythe not bothering her whatsoever. She became more unpredictable than he could ever be in this moment.

Remembering her past motions, Qrow maneuvered to be within range of her and held the handle of his scythe. They both held their ground, firmly. But Qrow slightly gave in, to bring Soteria close to him to kick her away from his precious weapon. He kicked her harder than he thought he would and she went flying to the other side of the arena.

" _Oooooooooo,"_ Her siren's song continued, each note higher than the other. Her teammates standing beside her and she picked herself off from the ground. They couldn't see the expression she was making from her long bangs, and Summer was afraid as to what she'd find. Anger? Frustration? Each possibility sounded terrifying to her.

But it was none of those, instead they found each member of Team SLVR grinning, taking delight in match. An emotion no one in the room thought they possessed.

" _Come at me,"_ She swung her arm to the side, her teammates doing exactly what they did before. They attacked at her command, as if they she was the Queen of their own Kingdom.

" _And you'll see,"_ She took several steps forward, as if she was daring them to come at her while her knights stood in their path.

" _We're more than meets the eye~ You think that, we'll break so easily,"_

" _But you'll find in time,"_ The Mr. Janus and Miss Soteria sung that line in unison as she walked up far enough to stand beside her duet participator.

" _You're standing too close to the flames that burn hotter than the sun in the middle of July,"_ a solar energy flared behind and around the group that neared closer to Team STRQ. The blue-haired braided girl pointed her javelin at the ground, releasing a fire dusted dragon that seemed ready to obey the command of the Queen.

" _Play these little games, and you still can't win,"_ She stared straight at Qrow, making sure that he knew that that particular line was for him specifically.

" _Listen up, stupid boy, because now we'll tell you why~"_ More dust was released by the javelin girl as solar-like orbs were emerging from behind them. All members grinned as they all sang together, " _We burn!"_ They energy that was built up was released to Team STRQ. All of their aura levels were down below the bar of safety. They had lost this match.

Qrow's back was to the floor, his eyes stared up at the ceiling above him, his mind going nowhere. He just replayed what happened again and again, until he finally realized something.

He, Summer, Raven and Taiyang… just got collectively roasted by a group of glorified performers. No ifs, ands or buts. It was what it was. And even though the idea of it amused him, he was pissed. He'd rather have it happen to someone rather than him. But he gave his opponents the satisfaction of calling his shit out.

 _Fuuuuuuuuck. Gotta hand it to them. They can fucking sing so well and kick ass so much. FUuuuuuuuuck._

He closed his eyes and decided it was nap time.

 _Fuuuuuuuuuck._


End file.
